Southern California Edison

Southern California Edison (SCE) is a subsidiary of Edison International. SCE services "central, coastal and Southern California, excluding the City of Los Angeles and certain other cities."

California PUC denies request to pass on costs of pet coke study to customers
In February 2009, the California Public Utilities Commission ruled that Southern California Edison will not be able to pass on to its customers the estimated $30 million in costs to join a clean energy study. Hydrogen Energy, the joint venture of BP and Rio Tinto, will study whether petroleum coke, an oil refinery by-product, can be converted to a clean, low-carbon fuel for power plants. SCE had proposed to charge higher electricity rates to cover the costs of the study. The CPUC suggested that SCE could be compensated after the study, and urged other California utility companies to participate in the project.

BP and Rio Tinto are seeking to build a 390 MW power plant at the oilfields in Kern County, north of Los Angeles, that would generate electricity by burning hydrogen made from petroleum coke. The carbon dioxide created in the process would be injected into Occidental Petroleum oilfields to increase oil production, which the companies say would cut 2 million tons of CO2 emissions per year.

Southern California Edison to Divest from Four Corners
On March 30, 2010, Southern California Edison (SCE) informed Arizona Public Service (APS) of the company's intentions to divest its 48 percent stake of Four Corners Steam Plant by 2016. According to APS, Southern California Edison announced it did not plan to sell its shares on the open market. SCE, which supplies power to greater Southern California, does not believe that Four Corners' coal burning is the energy wave of the future. Other issues that may have prompted SCE to divest its interests include proposed legislative initiatives to regulate carbon from power plants, Best Available Retrofit Technology requirements for the plant by fall 2010, and the possible regulation of coal fly ash as a hazardous waste.

APS to purchase SCE share and close Four Corners Steam Plant Units 1, 2, and 3
On November 8, 2010, Arizona Public Service announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase Southern California Edison's share of Four Corners Steam Plant Units 4 and 5, which it plans to retrofit with additional emission controls. The company will close Units 1, 2, and 3. There will be no layoffs at the plant, which employs 549 workers, 74 percent of whom are Navajo. Closing the three units will reduce the capacity of Four Corners by 633 megawatts (nameplate capacity) or 560 megawatts (net summer capacity). Units 1 and 2 were built in 1963, and Unit 3 was built in 1964.

Power Stations
SCE power stations, as of July 2008, are


 * Big Creek Hydro Facilities, Shaver Lake, California
 * Four Corners Generating Station, Fruitland, New Mexico
 * Mountainview Power Plant, Redlands, California
 * Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Wintersburg, Arizona
 * San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), San Clemente, California

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